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H. Wilfrid Walker - Wanderings Among South Sea Savages
squatted around me in the most amicable fashion, and sometimes even became a decided nuisance. My
first evening among them, however, I found extremely amusing, and as my Chinese cook placed the food
he had cooked before me, and as I ate it with knife, fork and spoon, they watched every mouthful I took
amid a loud buzz of comments and exclamations of delight.
Though by no means the first time I have had to endure this sort of popularity, or rather notoriety, in
various countries of the world, I do not think I have ever come across a people so full of friendly
curiosity as were these Dayaks. About midnight I began to feel a bit sleepy, but the admiring multitude
did not seem inclined to move, so I told Dubi to tell them that I wanted to change my clothes and go to
sleep. No one moved. "Tell the ladies to go, Dubi," I said, but on his translating my message a woman in
the background called out something that met with loud cries of approval.
"What does she say, Dubi?" I asked.
"She says, Tuan," replied Dubi, "they like see your skin, if white the same all over."
This was rather embarrassing, and I told Dubi to insist upon their going; but Dubi, whose advice I
generally took, replied, "I think, Tuan (master), more better you show to them your skin." I therefore
submitted with as good a grace as possible, and took my shirt off, while some of them, especially the
women, pinched and patted the skin on my back amid cries of approval and delight.
They asked if the skin of the Tuan Muda (the Rajah) was as white, and, on being told that it was, a long
and serious conversation took place among them, during which the name of the Tuan Muda kept
constantly cropping up.
The great naturalist, Wallace, met with much the same experience among the Dayaks, and as the natives
of many other countries among whom I have lived never seemed to display the same curiosity about my
white skin, I put it down to the Dayaks wishing to see what kind of a skin the great white Rajah, who
rules over them, possesses.
The next two or three nights the crowd that waited to see me change into my pyjamas was, if anything,
still larger, a good many Dayaks from neighbouring villages coming over to see the sight. But gradually
the novelty wore off, to my great joy, as I was getting a bit tired of the whole performance. I had come
here to see the Dayaks, but it appeared that they were even more anxious to see me.
For the next two or three weeks an odd Dayak would from time to time ask to see my skin, so that at
length I had absolutely to refuse to exhibit myself any longer.
I had luckily brought several illustrated magazines with me to use as papers for my butterflies, and these
were a source of endless delight to the crowds around me in the evenings. They behaved like a lot of
small children, and roared with laughter over the pictures. They generally looked at the pictures upside
down, and even then they seemed to find something amusing about them. With Dubi as my interpreter I
used to make up stories about the pictures, and, pointing to the portrait of some well-known actress,
described the number of husbands she had killed, and I'm afraid I grossly libelled many a well-known
politician, general, or divine in telling the Dayaks how many heads they possessed or how many wives
they owned, till it was quite a natural thing for me to join in their uproarious merriment, as I pictured in
my mind some venerable bishop on the war-path.
As is well known, the Dayak women all wear rings of brass around their waists. They are called
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